Hyderabadi woman reaches home after ordeal in Saudi Airport

Syeda Maleka, 35, a native of Jahanuma in Hyderabad, is now stranded at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after the officials found that she was travelling on an expired passport

Jeddah: A Hyderabadi woman, who was living in the war-torn Sudan and was travelling home via Saudi Arabia, was stranded in the airport here for nearly two days after Saudi Arabian officials barred her from boarding the flight as they discovered a lapse in her passport.

Syeda Maleka, 35, a native of Jahanuma in Hyderabad, is now stranded at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after the officials found that she was travelling on an expired passport.

---

Maleka was married to an elderly Sudan national about 15 years ago. Now a mother of four – three sons and a daughter – all born in Sudan and nationals of that country, Maleka however is still an Indian national since she continued to hold the Indian passport issued from Hyderabad in 2010. However, it had expired in 2020.

Maleka did not notice that the passport had expired and was living with her children and husband in Sudan. She had opted not to return home under Operation Kaveri in April that evacuated Indian nationals during the Sudanese conflict.

However, with the desire to visit India and see her family, she boarded a Sudanese Airways flight from Sudan to Riyadh on Wednesday, with the plan being to fly from there to Hyderabad on Air India. However, the plans had to take a backseat after the officials found that her passport expired three years ago.

Herculean task for passport

Maleka’s plight was brought into notice of Indian social workers Shihab Kotthukad and Naushad Alawa, who in turn contacted the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. Passport or travel document can be issued upon the personal appearance of the applicant. However, Maleka is not able to get out of the transit area to reach the Indian Embassy. On humanitarian grounds, Indian Embassy officials reached her beyond hours on the last working day of the week to help and issued an emergency certificate that enabled her to reach India on Friday.

“Since the Indian Embassy is closed in Sudan, I will renew my passport in Hyderabad”, she said.

In Saudi Arabia, a passport must be valid for six months at least to travel to other countries.